A/N: Wow! Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! I hope this chapter won´t be any worse than the last one:-)

Trapped

by Nicol Leoraine

Chapter 6

"You´re kidding!" the exclamation was uttered in pure wonder. "You want me to climb over that gate? It´s at least eight feet high!"

"Yeah, so?" Warrick was grinning and Catherine gave an exasperated snort.

"If this is just some stupid game, I will kill both you and Gil! If I don´t kill myself in the process of climbing."

"Why are you so grumpy, Cath? I thought you would like a little exercise," Warrick gibed and chuckled at the killer glares coming from Catherine. Despite all the joking, they were both nervous. Trying to call the others one last time, Warrick stored the cell in his pocket and looked up at the gate. Catherine was right, though it was maybe 8 1/2 feet if he should be more precise.

"It won´t be a problem," he mumbled, knowing that he managed to climb up much higher gates. "Hey Cath, maybe I can get through and then open it from inside?"

It wasn´t a bad thought, but Catherine shook her head.

"No, I should go first. I'll need you to help me up and if you wouldn´t be able to open it from inside, I doubt I could climb up on my own."

"All right. Do you want to grab some things?"

Catherine nodded and went to the car, pulling out the basic evidence kit. She found a backpack and stuffed it with a few other things then threw it at Warrick.

"Hey!" he protested, narrowly catching the pack with a whoof as it knocked the air out of him. Catherine closed the car, making sure they would find it upon their return and walked up to Warrick, who was trying to get a look into the pack.

"No time for that. Well? Give me a hand."

"Oh man," Warrick grumbled then leaned over a little, supporting one hand with the other when Catherine stepped on it, then gave her a lift. With a gasp, Catherine grabbed the top of the gate, grateful that there weren´t any spikes or barbed wire. Pulling herself up, she took a second to look around from the top. She could see that the security booth was empty, and except for the cars parked before the building, there were no visible life signs.

"Cath? Problems?"

"No, just enjoying the view," she huffed back at him, then carefully she leaned the top of her body on the gate, while swinging her left leg across it, then using her own weight, she moved her other leg, so she was now hanging on the inner side of the gate. Casting a quick glance down, she let go.

Warrick heard the soft grump and frowned a little. He hoped Catherine didn´t do any damage to herself.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Throw the pack and the kit over, would you?" came the reply and Warrick smirked. Leave it to Catherine to be the practical one.

"Sure. Look out!" he warned before doing so. Two thuds later, Warrick looked up, prepared to climb the gate, when he heard a buzz and saw the gate move. Shaking his head in wonder, he waited for the gate to open wide so they could drive in with the car, but the gate suddenly stopped. Being open no more then three feet wide, it was all Warrick needed to get in, but why didn´t Cath open it all the way?

"Catherine?" Warrick asked with concern, and pulled through the opening. Just in time, as the gate started to close. "What-"

"I don´t know," Catherine walked out of the security booth, looking puzzled. "I kept pushing the button, but the gate stopped then it started to close. At least you're skinny," she added, the corner of her lips turning slightly upward. Warrick threw her a glare, then scanned their surroundings. It was dark and he couldn´t see too much, but the rocky mass on the left was quite apparent as well as the building sitting beneath it. All around was dry land, only with a few bigger boulders thrown across the ground.

"Is there anything in the booth?" he asked, turning back to Catherine.

"Didn´t look around much. But no blood or other evidence of a fight, if you mean that."

Warrick nodded and followed Catherine inside. She was right, no evidence of fight, but there were several interesting things there. First off, the monitor of the computer went all black, only a single word blinking the warning on the left upper corner.

"Intruders!" Warrick asked in awe. How the hell did the computer know they were intruders? Catherine shook her head, not understanding herself.

"Maybe some security system. Could be someone from the building took control of the gate, added commands into the system."

"That´s ridiculous. Who would do that?"

The only reply was a shrug and a worried glance toward the building. Blinking, he squinted at the image. The building wasn´t dark like they thought. He could see flickering light in several windows on both floors. The rate of it though was alarming. Nobody would just turn on and off the lights. Could it be there were troubles with the security system? Maybe a virus?

Or was it a fire alarm? But there was no sound, and as far as he could tell, no fire either. Puzzled and now also worried, Warrick looked through the small booth. Except for the table with the computer and two other monitors that were now black, there was only the chair and one cabinet. The cabinet was closed but they found a plan in the desk.

"I think it´s about time we find out what the hell´s going on here," Warrick mumbled.

In silent agreement the two CSI´s stepped out of the booth, picked up the basic evidence kit as well as the backpack and headed toward the building. They made it as far as thirty yards from the gate, when the silence of the night was broken by a high pitched alarm, that hid the sound of shooting. The first bullet hit the ground mere feet from Catherine. She yelped and jumped back, not sooner than there was a shower of bullets where she once stood.

"Run!" Warrick shouted and grabbed her hand, before turning and pulling Catherine toward the only cover. He dove behind the boulder just as he felt something hit him hard in the back. He was still holding on to Catherine.

xxxx

"They´re gone!" Kevin stated in astonishment. He was peeking into the lobby through the door that refused to open. Only the top half was made from glass, but that was enough to start Brass trying to break it. No help there, it was in all probablity bullet-proof. Why such extreme measures in such a small complex was a mystery, but they had no time to solve it.

"No, they wouldn´t just leave on their own," Brass harshly spoke, getting more worried about the others.

"Then what-"

"Something must´ve happened. Can you... can you see something different?"

Kevin pushed his face at the glass, making it misty with his own breath. He was squinting hard, but could only shake his head.

"I'm sorry, detective. I don´t see anyone. The lights are making it all the more blurry."

"That´s okay," Brass sighed and Kevin realized it was the first time the man didn´t snap at him. Quirking his eyebrows, he was about to offer to try to break through the door anyway, when the other man raised his hand to indicate silence, his posture strained.

Kevin didn´t understand the reason, but he too tensed up, turning away from the lobby.

"You hear it?" Brass almost whispered and Kevin tilted his head slightly, listening. He blinked in surprise when he realized he indeed heard the sound and could easily identify it´s source.

"The elevator?" he added in soft voice and Brass nodded. Without any more words, they moved towards the source, getting there just in time to see the indicator stop on number 2.

"I thought this was only the first floor," Kevin noted, confused.

"Well, they probably gave the ground-floor number one," Brass replied distractedly as he waited for the indicator to move. He hoped the number two meant under ground laboratories but he knew that was just his wishful thinking. Someone was coming up and if it wasn´t Grissom or Nick calling the car, it was probably someone else. He held his breath when the car moved. He thought he heard a muttered voice coming from inside when the car passed their floor. But it didn´t stop even when Brass angrily stabbed on the calling button. With a curse he hit the button several times after the car stopped and he was sure all the passengers were out of it. But the car didn´t move and with a surprise both cops watched as the indicator turned black and the humming sound of the motor stopped altogether.

"Seems like they aren´t coming up," Kevin said after a rather long silence, not prepared for the seething detective to bolt and run toward the staircase. Trying to hide his surprise over the rash action, Kevin followed suit.

xxxx

It was the headache that woke him up, closely followed by the sharp lights. He was laying on his back, more like sprawled he thought, and gingerly touched his head.

Rafael Jenkins was a cop for some time, but he had luck with injuries - suffering only from bruises and a broken nose from a thief. Getting knocked out wasn´t his idea of fun and he started to understand just why it was some people were grumpy after getting a concussion. It was worse than his last hangover.

Blinking, Jenkins tried in vain to remember just how he ended up in this position. Slowly, taking his time, he got to his feet, swaying dangerously and cursing at the same time, when he leaned against the wall and took a good look around. He was in a lobby. Even with the somewhat blurry vision he recognized the red splatters as blood, and the black as a powder Sara used for taking the prints.

"Ah shit," Jenkins moaned as the memories came back. Not all and they were pretty distorted, but he knew for sure that Jim Brass told him not to let Sara out of his sight. Well, technically, he didn´t - but who would tell this to the detective? And whatever happened to the CSI?

Carefully touching the side of his head, Jenkins thought if it wouldn´t just be easier to lie back down and pretend he was still unconscious. That way, maybe Brass wouldn´t kill him straight away.

Quickly dismissing the thought, the sergeant reached for his radio. Of course it didn´t work. Calling out for the others maybe wasn´t wise, but he didn´t see any other way. Maybe Sidle was trying to get some help. There definitely weren't any new blood stains if he didn´t count the one his own injury created on the floor. Cringing and trying to breath out the nausea, Jenkins wobbled into the security room, aware of the fact that was their first plan before his skull exploded and Sidle vanished.

He made it, though barely, and grabbed at the chair for support. For the several following minutes Jenkins only concentrated on breathing, wishing the nausea and the headache away. Finally not feeling like puking, he slid into the chair and let out a breath.

He was facing the wall with the monitors, all of them dead to the world. All but two, he realised with surprise as the two monitors on the farther side blinked to life. Jenkins watched, puzzled, the dry ground and several rocks. Then he spotted the two figures walking toward the camera. They looked slightly familiar, but he couldn´t be sure, they were a little far away.

He almost jumped when he realized the two figures were CSI´s and that they were in reality just heading towards the same building he was in. Excited and feeling relieved at the prospect of another living soul, he didn´t notice the red light coming alive at the panel of the desk. Only when the alarm started blaring and the two figures on the monitors started running, did he realize something was wrong. But he could do nothing but watch as the bullets followed them, until they both vanished behind a boulder. It wasn´t soon enough though, as one of the bullets found its mark.

TO BE CONTINUE

Ups, another cliffie:-)

Next chapter should be up by the end of the week. Once I finish the story, I will post more often. Until then, keep the reviews coming, it´s always nice to know what you think about the story.